


prom // call me by your name one-shot

by itskurtcoblaine



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, One Shot, Prom, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 14:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15390999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itskurtcoblaine/pseuds/itskurtcoblaine
Summary: four friends. senior prom. the last chance elio has to get everything right...





	prom // call me by your name one-shot

Elio stood in front of the mirror, his mom standing proudly behind him, his little brother playing on his phone on the floor. 

"Are you just gonna leave your hair like that?" his mom asked.

Elio ruffled his floppy, curly hair. "I like it," he stated. Elio tugged on the flaps on the suit jacket and loosened his tie.

Before his mom could make any more adjustments or comments about his ensemble, a knock was perceived at the front door. A wave of ribbons fluttered in Elio's stomach.

"I'll get it!" Elio's brother yelled, rushing to his feet and thumping downstairs. "Hey Marzia!" an excited welcome was heard following the door opening.

Elio's mom followed him downstairs. "Oh, Marzia, you look lovely," she said to the giddy Marzia standing beside Elio's brother.

"Thank you, Ms. Perlman." Marzia was wearing a navy blue dress with matching shoes. She did look lovely. "Come on Elio, everyone's melting in the car."

"Wait, wait, dear, let me get a picture!" Ms. Perlman exclaimed, pulling her phone out of her jean pocket.

"Too bad Oliver isn't here to give you a cheeky prom kiss," Marzia muttered to Elio.

"Shut up," he replied, giving his best friend a gentle shove.

Elio stood in front of the stairs and gave his best prom smile. His mother fiddled with the phone until she was satisfied with her picture. "Alright, hurry along, guys," she said, waving her son out the door.

"Nice seeing you, Ms. Perlman," Marzia said, leading Elio outside. Oliver waved at them from the car and stepped out of the back seat.

"Damn it really is hot," Elio said once the door was closed behind him. "You excited?"

"Is that even a question?" Marzia replied. Elio could now tell she was almost jumping out of her heels. "This dance is all that's standing between me and exams. And after exams," she leaped off the curb and landed in front of the car parked outside Elio's house," is summer!" she threw his hands in the air and stepped into the minivan.

Elio peeked inside and saw Chiara had occupied the front seat. He turned to Oliver, who had opened the back door for Elio. Elio smiled, biting his lip. "Always a gentleman," Elio said.

Oliver shrugged smugly, closing the back door behind him. "Guys set?" Marzia asked. Oliver gave a thumbs up in response. They fastened their seat belts and were off to senior prom.

"You look nice," Elio said to Oliver.

Oliver gave his friend a kind smile. "Thanks! You look rather dashing yourself."

Elio felt himself blushing under the moonlight leaking into the car. Even though Oliver was trying to be comical, every compliment from him felt like a million bucks to Elio.

"Marzia does your mom have any music in this machine?" Oliver asked.

They all had driver's licenses, but their moms barely let them carpool themselves to the dance. Chiara, Marzia's twin sister, convinced her mum to have them take her car and then stay overnight at Oliver's house.

So when Chiara looked at the selection of CD's in her mother's glove compartment, the only thing from this century was, "Spice Girls: Greatest Hits."

"Pop it in," Oliver said, taking the CD and sliding it into the 10-year-old minivan's entertainment slot.

A few seconds later, "Wannabe" started blasting through the speakers.

The foursome sang along, rolling down the windows and throwing their arms into the sticky summer air.

"If ya wanna be my lover!" Elio shouted. He looked at Oliver, who had yelled the lyric looking back at him.

"You gotta get with my friends!" Oliver sang. Elio was dumbfounded that Oliver didn't pay any attention to their connection. He never did. But even still, Elio swooned over the most popular member of their group every second he could.

They were incredibly close friends. Maybe even best friends, next to Marzia of course, which Elio had known since they were very little. Elio didn't want to admit it, but the crush he had on his friend was throbbing, and he was always looking for a sign that Oliver felt the same way.

When the song ended, Marzia continued to jam out to her mother's favorite girl group. Chiara lit a cigarette and took a long drag, calming herself down after their intense jam session. Elio snatched it from her and took an even longer smoke. The chemicals eased his nerves and allowed him to exist around Oliver without spontaneously combusting. Elio offered the tobacco to Oliver, who politely declined.

Oliver was a good boy, who's free spirit and kind heart allowed him to make friends with almost everyone he met.

Chiara was pretty much the opposite. She was incredibly smart and embraced her nerdiness, often acting snobby (but the three of them loved her anyway). Unfortunately, that left her with fewer friends outside of her sister and best boys. Chiara didn't mind, the three sitting beside her were all she needed. She took his cigarette back from Elio and took another drag.

The parent of the group, Marzia, had never had a drop of alcohol in her life, despite her friend's attempts. She was trusted by all and was every teacher's pet.

That left Elio. He was a mix of all his friends. He had Chiara's love of learning, Marzia's cautiousness, and Oliver's affection. Elio liked it like that. As the youngest, he held the group together. He was new to the school last year but quickly found his way into the fantastic foursome, thanks to Marzia's outgoing energy and eagerness to recruit Oliver into their tribe. Thank god she did.

"It's been a hell of a year," Chiara said.

"It's gonna be so weird next year," Marzia added.

"I'm gonna miss this," Elio said.

The gang had a moment of awkward silence. The truth was, they would be parting for college the next year, and the get-togethers would become less and less frequent.

Oliver yawned.

"Tired already, Ollie?" Chiara said. She tossed the cigarette out the window.

"I'm just getting my yawns out," Oliver replied. He let his head fall onto Elio's shoulder. Balancing the tender action, Elio rested his head on top of Oliver's. Neither would admit it to the group, or each other, but they felt more secure in each other's touch.

They ignored the snarky comments that came from Chiara and Marzia about their urge to be in each other's contact, but Oliver never thought of it as romantic. He just felt better.

"I swear you guys are like an old married couple," Marzia said, turning into their school. Elio lived closest to the high school, which was why he was picked up last. "We're here!"

"I could fall asleep right now," Oliver whispered so lightly only Elio could just make it out.

"Me too," Elio responded. He was lying, of course, because how could he fall asleep when his stomach was a sold out trampoline park.

They lay like that until the Spice Girls came to an abrupt stop. Chiara turned off the motor and the group filed out of the car.

Dozens of teens could be seen hanging outside the athletic building, in the parking lot, and walking in and out.

"Got another stick?" Elio asked Chiara, who handed him a cigarette and lighter. Elio lit the cigarette and handed the lighter back to Chiara.

Elio took a slow inhale. The other three made their way to the doors, and Elio hung back at the curb.

"You comin'?" Oliver asked.

"I'll be right in," Elio replied. He gave Oliver a small smile.

They walked in without him.

Elio waited a minute, using the smoke as a disguise when he really needed to hang back just so he could collect his nerves. He dropped the empty cigarette on the sidewalk and entered the building.

The athletic building had all the locker rooms, the dance studio, and the entrance to the gym. It was connected to the main building but was built years after the high school, so everyone just called it a different building.

Instead of walking into the gym like everyone else, Elio walked to the boy's locker room. He twisted his locker open and pulled out a plastic crown he bought the day before at the dollar store. He ripped the purchase out of its packaging and threw that away.

Elio left the crown on at bench near the entrance of the locker room and entered the buzzing environment.

Oliver was nominated for prom king, but he was probably going to be one of the extras who stood in the background and clapped while the basketball stud won like in some cheesy movie. Elio wanted him to win, that would be amazing, but he brought a backup crown just in case.

The gym was decorated with Christmas lights that belonged on tumblr and was covered in cheap summer items like palm trees taped to the wall and beach balls floating around the dance floor. Elio couldn't spot his friends in the mass and walked over to the end of the food table.

He pondered going somewhere else before he stood next to the closeted girls wearing suits and the acne covered single guys, but it was the only spot where cookies were in arms reach and he could keep a lookout for the others.

Elio grabbed a cookie and played with his tie. Where the hell was everyone?

Marzia, Chiara, and Oliver were in the middle of the dance floor. They were high on energy and sweat and the rented disco ball spinning above them made the whole room come alive. They were dancing in a tight circle like they were drunk as top 40 trash blasted through the speakers.

"I'm gonna go check on Elio," Oliver said, suddenly nervous.

Oliver made his way down the end of the gym and back and walked right past Elio who was too busy pouring a glass of lemonade to notice Oliver passing by.

One of the reasons Oliver was looking forward to the prom was being able to dance with Elio, or just be alone with him in general. Although he loved Chiara and Marzia with all his heart, he saw Elio as his best friend. He'd never really hung out with Elio without the girls around, since he became friends with Elio through Marzia and Chiara.

Oliver strode quickly back and found Marzia and Chiara where he left them.

"He's not down there?" Marzia asked over the music. 

Oliver shook his head. "Huh. He'll find us. Probably getting food."

Marzia was right. Elio was probably just grabbing a bite and making his way over to the dance floor. Oliver jumped back into the melody, and his thoughts concerning Elio's whereabouts slowly evaporated with the music.

"Hey Elio," Kyle said, grabbing one of the last homemade mini cupcakes and placing it on his plate.

Elio looked up from his phone. "Hey. Here for food?"

"No. I try to avoid mass produced products," he said. "Can I join the loners club?" He added jokingly.

Elio laughed, a bit offended. "There's always room for you."

"Where are your people?" He asked. Kyle was in a few of Elio's classes, and they went to the same middle school together.

"No clue," Elio said. "You look cute."

Kyle gave a little twirl. He was wearing a sweater and black jeans, underdressed, but he pulled it off. "I'm gonna go hang out with Christine and her crew. Care to join?"

"Maybe later," Elio replied. "I'm gonna find Marzia."

Kyle trotted off and Elio finished his drink. He began to push through the couples, friend circles, and partiers.

"There he is!" Chiara said. "Where ya been?"

Elio squished into their spot on the floor. "Eating."

"Told you," Marzia said. Marzia was pretty much always right.

"I fucking hate this song," Chiara said as the music changed. She began to dance a little wilder.

"Doesn't look like it," Oliver said, trying his best to move his long body rhythmically.

Occasionally one of them left to grab a drink, but for the rest of the playlist they jammed out together like it was their last day alive. In their minds, it pretty much was.

"Are you guys having a good time?" A recognizable voice said through the microphone on stage. Timmy, the senior class president held two rhinestoned crowns on a purple pillow.

The room of teenagers cheered and prom king and queen nominees started making their way on stage. A round of "good luck," and "you got this," came from Elio, Chiara and Marzia as Oliver joined the basics on the stage.

"I'll be right back," Elio said and sprinted to the locker room. He prayed he wouldn't miss the results as he grabbed the crown and ran back down the hall.

"Alright, are we all up here?" Timmy said. The gym went silent as a girl handed Timmy a slip of paper. "Your 2017 prom queen is, Greta Gerwig!" The crowd applauded for the beautiful, rich, yet generally nice popular girl. Chiara and Marzia looked around for Elio, who was still running back down the hall. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for," Timmy joked sarcastically, "this year's prom king is... Sufjan Stevens!"

Chiara and Marzia clapped for their peer, but both were sad Oliver didn't win. Oliver hadn't noticed that Elio slipped out, and when Elio burst in after the announcement, he had no idea who had won.

Elio found himself, yet again, looking for his friends.

Oliver pushed past the crowd to find the group as well and ended up stuck in a giant dancing blob. He struggled to stay with Chiara and Marzia when he did reconnect with them and was disappointed to see Elio wasn't with them.

"Where's Elio?" Oliver yelled over the volume.

"He said he'd be right back," Marzia replied.

Elio had come back but hesitated to re-enter the mass. He had missed who won. God, he was so stupid. Oliver was probably dancing with Greta, who was a sure-win for queen, and Elio was the last thing on his mind. Elio fiddled with the dumb plastic crown. He bet it looked incredibly lousy compared to the one Oliver won.

Oliver deserved it, he thought. He deserved better than Elio.

Elio had anxiety, which is the main reason he hated crowds so much. Smoking helped him calm down. He wasn't like a wacko drug dealer, but once a week, or on special occasions, Elio would smoke a cigarette. Maybe next year in college he wouldn't smoke any since Chiara wasn't there to prompt him.

Dumb crown.

Unlike Elio thought, Oliver, who was trying to dance on the other side of the gym, had Elio at the top of his mind. He was worried about Elio, especially because he knew about Elio's crowd thing.

Where was Elio running off to so much tonight? Did he have a secret girlfriend? Boyfriend? Was he smoking? Oliver prayed it was none of the above.

"I'm gonna go find him," Oliver said.

"Who?" Chiara yelled back.

"Elio!" Oliver replied, pushing his way out of the crown.

Chiara yelled something after that Oliver couldn't make out. He escaped from the sea of people and hugged the walls of the gym. A few people told him something about the election like, "I voted for you!" but most people were too busy eating or making out or dancing.

All of a sudden the entire mood of the gym changed when the song faded from Ride to Chasing Cars.

Oliver felt his feet become heavier. This was one of his favorite songs, and Elio was nowhere to be seen. A crownless Oliver wandered around the gym for the entire song.

Elio must be outside.

The first place he looked was the parking lot and was relieved he didn't find Elio with the potheads. The only other place he could be was the bathrooms. He pushed open the boy's locker room door and found no one.

"Oliver?" a fragile voice said. Oliver caught the door and re-entered the stinky maze.

He found Elio sitting on the floor leaning up against a locker hugging his knees to his chest. He looked tired and sorrowfully alone.

"Where've you been?" Oliver asked, sliding down the lockers and taking a seat next to his friend. Elio picked up the crown from beside him and tried to hide it. Oliver smiled. "What's that?"

Elio shook his head and sniffled. "It's really stupid."

Oliver laughed and nudged him, "come on!"

"Fine. I had this dumb cheesy idea that if you didn't win prom king, that I'd bring you this plastic crown and tell you how you're our winner--my winner and that kind of crap," Elio said. "It even sounds more stupid and desperate when I say it out loud."

Oliver took the crown and placed it gingerly on his head, "I love it. That's adorable." Oliver looked at Elio and smiled.

Elio felt the tsunami crash in his stomach. He felt his eyes drifting shut as Oliver leaned closer.

They were just inches apart when Oliver said, "Chiara, um, Chiara and Marzia are probably wondering if I found you."

Elio leaned back, returning to reality. "They probably aren't," he said.

Oliver closed his eyes and shook his head, laughing silently to himself. "We'll I'd rather go dance with them then be depressed with you."

"Dang," Elio said, standing up. As he got to his feet, a rush of confident came to him. He saw Oliver wearing his crown and smiled at him. "You're killing me, you know that?" he held out his hand and Oliver grabbed it, pulling himself up. To Elio's disappointment, Oliver let his hand fall from Elio's grasp.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, do you want to dance with me or not?" Elio replied charmingly.

"You're killing me, Perlman," Oliver said, which was exactly the yes Elio needed to hear. Oliver placed his hand in Elio's. The romantic gesture that was brand new to the two of them felt like they've done it a thousand times. That made Oliver think, why hadn't they?

As they walked out of the locker room and towards the gym, Elio's crush on him slowly revealed itself to Oliver. The hugs lasting a little longer than his with others, how he looked away when he saw Oliver glancing his way, the way he let Oliver touch him whenever Oliver wanted.

Oliver didn't bring it up. He didn't need to. Becuase the other thing he realized, is he hugged Elio a little tighter and glanced his way all the time, and his body was the one to drift towards Elio.

The sound of Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" came floated into the boys' ears as they entered the gym. The tone in the room was completely different. Couples were paired off and slow dancing together. Couples made up of one boy and one girl.

Oliver didn't seem to care that there was probably only one other same-sex pair on the dance floor. He lead Elio in like he was the most beautiful person in the world, which he certainly was to Oliver.

Elio let Oliver spin him around and then pull him back in. Oliver placed his hand on Elio's waist, who's hand found it's way atop Oliver's shoulder. They started to turn and take small gliding steps, grinning into each other's eyes and then quickly blushing and looking away.

Four or five songs later they found themselves swaying to Thinking Out Loud. Elio had his arms wrapped around Oliver's waist, and Oliver's arms were hung around Elio's shoulders. Elio let his forehead fall against Oliver's shoulder, both of their eyes closed and bodies connected.

Marzia and Chiara, who had been hanging out with some of their other single friends, hadn't seen the other two since Oliver ran out to find Elio.

"Marzie," Chiara said, tapping her sister, "look."

Marzia turned his head to where Chiara was looking and found Elio and Oliver resting against each other. "Aww," Marzia said, smiling at the two. "They're perfect," she added.

Chiara placed her hand on Marzia's shoulder. "You know I always suspected Elio wasn't all the way straight."

Marzia pushed her lightly. "They're adorable."

Not a while after, one could tell the gym had become emptier. The parking lot began to clear up, and the chaperones started to take the leftover food back to the cafeteria.

Elio and Oliver had their heads resting on each other's shoulder, still rocking slowly to the music. Marzia got a text from her mom asking when they'd be at Oliver's. She showed Chiara the message.

"We should get going then," Chiara said.

Neither Elio nor Oliver had said anything to each other since they stepped back into the gym. Elio felt his phone buzz.

**ms crabs :** time to blast

Elio looked up to see Chiara waving at him, gesturing they should leave. He untangled himself from Oliver and took the boy's hand. He placed a gentle kiss on the skin and then intertwined their fingers. "Ready?" was all Elio said.

Oliver sighed quickly, "never," he replied.

They joined Marzia and Chiara, who didn't say a word about their intimacy and repositioned themselves in the car.

Once they arrived at Oliver's house, their tired selves tried to maintain their usual upbeat vibe. When they did fall asleep late in the morning, each had their own sleeping space. They slept in a circle, their head at the top.

Elio and Oliver looked at each other, smiling and silently giggling as each drifted asleep.

When they woke up, they did exactly that.

Woke up.


End file.
